Alosia Anne Carlson

She was born on November 5, 1935, in Pekin, IL where she grew up playing the card game Euchre, making music, tap dancing up and down stairs, and attending numerous baseball games. Her family in Pekin included her parents Tony Eichelberger and Eva (Brown) Eichelberger, her sisters Norma Jean (or Jean), Sally Jo, and her brother Anthony (or Tony). Every weekend the family would gather at her Mennonite grandparents’ farm along with 10 Eichelberger Aunts and Uncles and their families - enough to raise a barn or to make up the baseball team that went on to win the 1936 Illinois State Championship.

After High School, she worked for a year as a secretary at Caterpillar Tractor Co before she left Pekin to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she met her future husband, Ronald Carlson, in 1956. They married January 27, 1957 which began an adventure, as she used to say, of “moving 13 times in 15 years” as well as creating 3 children: Scott, Beth, and Eric. It started with Ron’s service in the Air Force, then his work at Jewel Tea Company, and finally, when Ron got his position with Skaggs Drug, the family settled in Salt Lake City, UT to stay. When her youngest started Elementary School, Alosia enrolled at the U of U, completing her Bachelor’s Degree. Then, in the late 1970’s, she completed a Master’s Degree in Social Work, as well as her LCSW certification.

Alosia spent her life, even while in hospice care, helping people change their own lives for the better through multiple avenues. She was always very active in community, including serving as president of the Utah Mental Health Association, developing children’s curriculum for church summer schools, writing parent training manuals for what was CBTU and is now the Carmen B. Pingree Autism Center of Learning… manuals that were later adopted and adapted by Primary Children’s Hospital, and her long time contributions to the Social Work profession both by serving on the board of continuing education at the U of U’s School of Social Work and contributing to the School’s graduate student curriculum. She also conducted one on one and group therapy sessions, workshops, retreats, and classes, sharing the wealth of her wisdom with any who “asked her to dance”.

For those she touched, you know how difficult it is to describe how much she meant to you. Her friend Jeraldene Lovell-Cole beautifully expressed some of Alosia’s essence in a poem.

Excerpt from A Rap Song for the Dancer:

If you take a chance - and ask her to dance

Be ready to move, to find a new groove

Be ready for a shake up

Be ready for a wake up.

With a 1 and a 2

and a 3 and a 4

She’ll guide you right up

to your next open door.

And if you choose to dance

through that new door

she’ll help you take a chance

to be true to your core.

Cheering you on to find your own dance

her skills are many, too many to count

but she’ll generously give you

just the right amount.

From guiding Souls

to hardy casseroles

she will nurture your truth -

which she finds like a sleuth!

- Jeraldene Lovell-Cole

The family would like to thank Quality Home Health Care and Hospice for the exquisite care they showed Alosia in her final days. Special thanks for Angel’s never-ending sunshine, Rachel’s compassionate guidance, Clover’s parallel heart, and Anna’s gentle grounding presence. We were also blessed with the aid of her sister Sally’s granddaughter, Sydney Garner, who came from Illinois to stay with us for 2 weeks and supported us all. Sydney, words cannot express our gratitude. All of this incredible care provided Alosia the gift to stay in her home and pass peacefully in a place that she loved.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Tony and Eva, her brother Tony, and her sister Jean. She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Ron, her children Scott (Julie) Carlson, Beth Carlson, and Eric Carlson, and her sister Sally Jo (Eichelberger) Caracheo.

Family and friends are invited to attend a Visitation/Viewing with the family on November 16, 2025 at Wasatch Lawn, 3401 S. Highland Drive, Millcreek, from 3:00-6:00 pm. A service and a Celebration of Life will follow on November 17, 2025 at Christ United Methodist Church, 2375 E. 3300 S., Millcreek; the service at 1:00 pm and the celebration from 2:00-3:30.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in her honor to The Utah Food Bank.

For those unable to attend, the Celebration of Life Service will be available for your virtual attendance at the following link: https://www.christumcutah.org/sermons